The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

I stared blankly at the clothes Kang Hyun-Sung gave me.

“Your size is large, right?” he asked.

“…Yes.”

I was grateful that such a cold guy like Kang Hyun-Sung was attentive enough to order clothes in my size, but I couldn’t help but feel conflicted about it.

‘…Why are these clothes coming out here?’ I wondered. Because the clothes that I saw myself wearing in Precognitive vision weren’t ones that I currently possessed, I thought my meeting with my aunt would happen quite some time later. Since I had no plans to shop for clothes in the meantime, I thought I would meet her at least a couple of months later.

‘But at this point, she might visit me in the middle of training camp.'

It was much earlier than I expected. Perhaps, I should’ve expected it. Although The Showcase 2 was an idol program, it was quite well-known by the public. Though it was probably only the idol stans watching the show, the program’s name and a couple of clips must have already spread to the general public. My aunt could’ve misunderstood that I had earned a lot of money by now since she didn’t have any idea about how the broadcasting industry worked.

Sighhh.

I sighed inside my mind. The franchise coffee shop I saw in my Precognitive Vision was probably a café near the pension where we would be staying. I had wondered why there were some low-level buildings outside of the shop’s window, but it made sense if the location wasn’t even Seoul in the first place. I probably needed to warn the broadcasting crew about my aunt beforehand and explain why I was avoiding her and what kind of person she was.

“Do you not like the clothes?” Kang Hyun-Sung asked.

“No, it’s good. But aren’t these too expensive to buy in bulk?”

“I suppose it wasn’t cheap.”

“Well, thank you for them.” I clutched the clothes tightly.

“Wow! Look at the fitting for this!”

“As expected of our great leader. I will remain loyal to you forever.”

“Money is truly great.”

My other team members also grinned from ear to ear after accepting Kang Hyun-Sung’s gift. It appeared Kang Hyun-Sung was also well aware of the fact that the quickest way to young men’s hearts was by gifting them with sports brand clothes. With this, I could tell the remaining bits of awkwardness that the Only One members still had with their leader was gradually disappearing. They were now comfortable enough with him to make little jokes here and there. It was a positive change.

‘At first, I was worried about joining Kang Hyun-Sung’s team but this could be a good thing.’

Though I didn’t know what kind of person Kang Hyun-Seung really was yet, he appeared to be a good leader. But besides that, I had a more pressing problem at hand: it was my inevitable meeting with my aunt.

‘What am I going to do?’ I needed to find a way to escape it.

“Is something wrong?”

“…Sorry?”

Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly approached me again, and I stepped backwards in surprise. I hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

“It’s just that I had something to think about.”

“What is it?”

“…Am I obligated to tell you?”

“…I suppose not.”

Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me wordlessly. I furrowed not knowing what he wanted and Kang Hyun-Sung backed away.

“If you are struggling with a problem, you shouldn’t let it be but take the initiative and solve it,” he suggested.

What he said was true, but it was difficult to carry that out in action. Did I need to personally approach my aunt first, make the first move, and break off our relationship? I thought there was no way I could do that when I realized, ‘…He’s right?’

A great realization befell me then. There was no need for me to be worrying like this. I had numerous pieces of evidence in my phone that I had collected for several years. Furthermore, there were other methods that I would have a difficult time using if it wasn’t right now. Like that, I didn’t need to worry myself sick wondering when she would come to find me but make the first move.

“…You're right.”

“…?”

“Yes. It will bring me ease to solve the problem myself first.”

Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me in slight surprise.

“You aren’t going to fight or hit anybody, right?”

“…What?”

“…No, never mind.”

I wondered how in the world Kang Hyun-Sung viewed me, but it wasn’t like I had positive opinions about him either. Nevertheless, I had my solution now. I didn’t need to keep running away. I was twenty-four…no, I was nineteen now, but my mental age was twenty-four. I already passed the age where I would shudder in fear at my aunt’s words. My aunt was just a middle-aged woman with depleting health. There was no need for me to fear that she could physically attack me or raise her voice at me.

“Thank you,” I expressed my gratitude.

“…What?” Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me in surprise but didn’t repeat his words.

But while all this went on, the rest of the team members were having a little fashion show with the new clothes they got in front of the mirror.

“Let’s take a picture with these clothes!” Park Young-Ho suggested and stood in front of the mirror. We all looked sort of funny wearing all the same clothes. And after taking numerous pictures, we continued our practice with Kang Hyun-Sung’s lead. “Okay, let’s practice again.”

Perhaps, it was because we were going to the training camp tomorrow, we practiced longer than usual and separated only after 10 pm.

“Good work everyone~”

“See you tomorrow at the pension!”

“Good luck~” I also saw Ms. Hyuna, who came to pick me up, and got into her car and returned to my place.

***

When I returned to my dorm, my group members were lying limply on the floor.

“…Hey, Tae-Yoon.”

“…Good job today too.”

“…Did you eat dinner?”

“…You must’ve worked hard.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, seeing all four of them on the floor like this.

“…Are you seriously laughing?”

“Do you know what kind of suffering we had to go through?”

Though my group members appeared to feel betrayed by my laughter, I still thought their behavior was funny.

“Did you pack all your belongings for tomorrow?” I asked, wondering if they were lying down after finishing all the tasks they needed to do.

“No.”

“We didn’t.”

“We have to do that now.”

“Haaa. I really don’t want to.”

My group members felt immense pressure from having to pack, and it wasn’t because they were lazy that they didn’t do any of that yet. All right, I guess a part of them was lazy, but it was probably because they were too mentally exhausted to do anything now.

“Get the cleansing foam…”

“Your pajamas and training clothes too…”

My group members moved very slowly to pack their clothes. In the end, I quickly picked up their belongings and loaded them onto their suitcases. In an instant, four suitcases were packed. And while I was packing my own suitcase, my group members showed interest in the clothes that I was holding.

“Did you buy new clothes? I haven’t seen that before.”

“Aren’t those clothes just been newly released?”

“Senior Kang Hyun-Sung gave these to everyone on my team,” I told them.

“…”

“…”

“…Haa, I’m so jealous.”

My group members didn’t say anything for a bit and then said they were jealous. They seemed to not be envious of the clothes but the fact that my team members were close enough to share the same clothes. I couldn’t fathom how much they were struggling with their current team.

[Probability of winning first place: 64%]

And the most concerning problem was that the probability of winning was dwindling bit by bit. Perhaps, it was because one’s morale and state of mind also affected their performance. I felt a sense of guilt for some reason since it was me who made their team. It felt as if I had dropped a bomb on them and ran away to another place.

“Are you guys all right? It seems like you guys are more tired than usual.”

“Our practice today was more difficult than usual.”

“What, why?”

“The other two guys from OnebyOne kept doing something else…”

“What do you mean?”

“They kept turning on other videos while we looked at the choreography video, and they just began doing random dance games on their own.”

“What…?”

“Any chance they get, they keep asking to eat or drink. And even though we didn’t even think of a concept properly yet, they still talk as if we have all the time in the world.”

“Why…”

“And when they go to the bathroom, they don’t come back even after ten minutes have passed.”

“And when they begin talking, they talk to one another for over ten minutes.”

“And when we try to focus on a specific dance move, they just keep fooling around and joke amongst themselves.”

“And they keep making it seem like they're having so much fun that if you try to stop them, you seem like a boring prude who doesn't know how to have fun.”

My group members poured out their complaints as soon as they began. It seemed like they had a lot on their minds. Even Woon, who had talked about continuing to work together with OnebyOne’s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, shook his head.

“I also couldn’t bear them…” Woon said. The fact that Woon gave up on them meant those two were the worst of the worst.

“I think they are acting like that because they still don’t like our idea.”

“You mean they are purposefully hindering your practice?”

“Yeah, you know those people who ruin the whole game if things aren’t going their way?”

“Yeah.”

“They are just like that…”

“Since they already know that winning the show seems impossible, they want to do performances they like. And since they can’t even do that, it feels as if they don’t care about anything and just want to do what they want.”

“Don’t they know that they would be insulted if their behavior gets broadcasted?”

“I think those guys believe they are beating the system and acting super covertly.”

“What…”

I could already see the future; it was something I could see even without Precognitive Vision. Those two will be met with great anger from the public if what my group members said was right, since this level of conduct wasn’t a level that could be covered up with just good editing.

‘They must’ve planned everything,’ I thought. There were probably many among the broadcasting crew who checked the situation. Thus, they probably knew who the troublemakers in the group were and what kind of issues there were in each group.

‘Then, there’s a high chance that some kind of issue could happen at the training camp.’ There was probably something that the broadcasting crew was picturing.

“We are planning to talk more after going to the training camp.”

“We need to finish this somehow.”

Sigh.

My group members sighed and reaffirmed their resolutions.

[Probability of winning first place: 63%]

But unlike what they were saying, the probability kept dropping. The worries that I had been having were becoming a reality now. We might not get first place because of those two trolls.

“Let’s wash ourselves first, Tae-Yoon.”

“We should also get to sleep soon.”

“We complained too much to Tae-Yoon when he must be busy with his own practice.”

My group members quickly got themselves together because they didn’t want to make me worried. Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon went to their rooms and Woon went to our room. Woon immediately placed the blankets on the ground, and I went to take a shower.

‘The situation isn’t easy.’ While taking a shower, I tried to think about how I would be able to achieve everything I wanted from the training camp. Right now, I needed to end my relationship with my aunt and knock some sense into OnebyOne’s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.

Though I had some plans, I couldn’t be certain of what would happen. All I could do in this instance was to come up with some plans inside my mind in preparation. I dried my hair and went back to my room.

“Are you asleep, Woon?” I asked. Woon seemed to be deep asleep. I turned off the room’s lights and went outside the living room. The living room was also dark, and it appeared that all my group members were asleep. It was natural, considering how tired they must have been all day. I sat on the sofa and raised my phone. Then, I tried to remember a phone number I had erased a long time ago.

It seemed the old saying that childhood memories lasted a lifetime was true. Though I had tried my best to forget them, I still clearly remembered my aunt’s eight-digit phone number. I pressed on the numbers and though it was late, I didn’t give a damn about maintaining my manners. I breathed in deeply and my call was accepted.

—Hello?